Trump has 'compromised' Bergdahl's right to a fair trial, lawyer says

Bowe Bergdahl’s defense lawyer on Friday said his client’s right to a fair trial had been "irreparably compromised" by Donald Trump, and said he might call the billionaire presidential candidate to the witness stand.

“There’s been a pattern here that is so extensive that it has certainly raised in the mind of the defense team whether Sgt. Berghdal's right to a fair trial has been irreparably compromised by Mr. Trump’s comments,” defense lawyer Eugene Fidell said to CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Friday. “We have to have proof and Mr. Trump…may well be part of the proof that we will offer.”

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Fidell said that Bergdahl's defense team has “been monitoring Mr. Trump’s statements for some time” and the comments Trump has made in public are “appalling,” similar to a “lynch mob,” but cautioned he wasn’t commenting on Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election.

He said that Trump, who often calls Bergdahl a "no-good traitor" during campaign events and has called for his execution, was allowed to say what he wanted under the First Amendment but that he could face a defamation case in the future.

Bergdahl's defense team argued the same point in a court filing on October, as first reported by Bloomberg View's Josh Rogin.

“The First Amendment rules out any effort to prevent Mr. Trump from making these defamatory remarks,” the filing said. “The fact remains, however, that his pattern of doing so, with the full glare of public attention before mass audiences around the country, materially threatens SGT Bergdahl’s right to fair consideration by the convening authority as well as in a court-martial.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Fidell also touched on the podcast “Serial," which is examining the case of Bergdahl, who left his post in Afghanistan and was held prisoner from 2009 to 2014 by Taliban-linked militants. Berghdal is being charged with desertion and endangering fellow soldiers in a military court.

Fidell said he wakes up at 6 a.m. on the day new episodes come out, and so far thinks it’s been interesting and informative.

“I’m going to withhold judgment on their overall impact until the series has run its course,” he said.